New England Patriots links 10/08/19 - How Sony got his groove back

TEAM TALK

• Game Preview: Giants at Patriots. Series history, scouting the matchups, tale of the tape.
• Patriots-Giants Tuesday Injury Report.
• Broadcast Info: Giants at Patriots.
• Patriots release TE Ben Watson.
• Mike Dussault reviews the Pats-Skins film, quarter-by-quarter to see what stood out: The linebackers were on full display on the first possession.
• Mike Dussault shares the news, notes and locker-room buzz from Monday at Gillette: Patriots shift focus to Giants, Watson released.
• Angelique Fiske reports the Patriots were blown away by fans who made the trip to D.C. “It felt like a home game.”
• Locker Room celebration following the win over the Redskins. (1.28 min. video)
• 2019 Sack Counter: Take a look at each of the sacks from 2019 so far. (1 min. video)
• WEEI Patriots Monday: Tom Brady (17.16 min.) - Bill Belichick (18.04 min.)

LOCAL LINKS

• Doug Kyed’s Week 5 Film Review: Sunday’s win be remembered as the game that finally sprung running back Sony Michel. But it took contributions from three other particular players to get him going.
• Evan Lazar gives us his Pats-Skins Film Review: Josh McDaniels threw a new personnel grouping at Washington and broke a two-year-long tendency.
• Matt Dolloff issues his Week 5 Package Report: Patriots turn to two-tight end formations to get offense rolling at Redskins.
• Evan Lazar’s Advanced Stats Report: Brady’s second-half performance under pressure sparks passing game.
• Matt Dolloff writes ‘The first impact of the run game was subtle. After calling just six runs in the entire first half, the Patriots ran the ball on five of their first seven plays of the third quarter.’
• Jerry Thornton’s Knee Jerk Reactions: Week 5, Pats-Skins. “Don’t tell me you can’t read anything into a blowout win over Colt McCoy. I am both blessed and cursed with a memory about such things. Games where the Patriots supposedly lucked into playing some journeyman back up quarterback, only to end up making the guy look like 1999 Kurt Warner.”
• Michael Hurley serves up some still-warm leftover Patriots thoughts: Focusing on bad opponents is missing the forrest for the trees.
• Ian Logue (PatsFans) 5 Thoughts following the Patriots win: Another solid performance for New England’s defense, although they’ll leave this one with a reminder that not everything was perfect.
• Nick O’Malley welcomes us to the Patriots ‘boogeyman’ defense: Where any player at any position can be a nightmare.
• NESN calls attention to how the Patriots defense has put up some stunning numbers through five games.
• Michael DePrisco points out Jamie Collins and Devin McCourty stand alone atop the NFL in interceptions after Week 5.
• Zack Cox notes Julian Edelman receives the highest praise from Tom Brady and Bill Belichick after gutting through obvious pain Sunday to turn in his best performance of the 2019 season to date.
• Chris Cotillo reports Julian Edelman becomes the first New England receiver with a 100-yard game this season.
• Tom E. Curran gives us an ode to Julian Edelman and pokes back hard at the NFL’s Top 100 that ranks Edelman as the NFL’s 19th best receiver.
• Phil Perry wonders how much it would cost the Patriots to land AJ Green or Emmanuel Sanders.
• Matt Dolloff passes along a report that Phillip Dorsett is ‘OK’ after leaving the game with a hamstring injury.
• Dave Brown discusses how struggling kicker Stephen Gostkowski was suddenly upgraded to the irreplaceable God of Kicking.
• Steve Balestrieri (PatsFans) Patriots Week 5 Report Card: Hightower was everywhere and the Redskins had no answer for him. Hightower had 8 tackles, 4.5 for a loss, 1.5 sacks, 1 pass defensed, and two QB hits.
• Nick O’Malley hands out some grades from Sunday’s game: Dont’a Hightower’s ‘Ninja Turtle fingers’ prevented an A+ day.
• Michael Hurley says the Chiefs’ loss means the Patriots are in the driver’s seat for home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
• Zack Cox scouts the Giants with three things to know about Thursday night’s opponent: 1. Daniel Jones still needs work.
• Matt Vautour brings up how the Giants struggled in a 28-10 loss to Minnesota, snapping a two-game win streak, before Thursday’s matchup with the Patriots.
• Matt Vautour hears from Bill Belichick on facing the challenge of having a short week to prepare for this Thursday night’s game vs. the Giants.
• Michael McMahon notes the Giants potentially could be very shorthanded vs. the Patriots this week.
• Justin Leger notes Golden Tate shuts down the idea that the Giants will be intimidated by Patriots.
• Tom E. Curran throws up some theories behind the release of Ben Watson, reiterating how the team has ‘absolutely butchered the Gronk succession plan at tight end.’
• Zack Cox relays Bill Belichick’s simple explanation to the release of Ben Watson: “We just don’t have a roster spot.”
• Michael Hurley says Sunday night created the exact moment that it became clear that this new system for reviewing pass interference is a complete and total farce. It is a sham.
• Foxboro Report: Sierra Goodwill and Evan Lazar discuss why New England is brought up as a potential landing spot for AJ Green. (3 min. video)
• Foxboro Report: Seirra Goodwill and Evan Lazar discuss whether the Chiefs are the only AFC threat to the Patriots. (3.25 min. video)
• Entitled Town Podcast: Dave Brown & Mike Irons break down Pats-’Skins; Guest Bruce Allen discusses the need to scrutinize Boston media and the blowback received when he started doing it nearly 2 decades ago. (80 min.)

NATIONAL NEWS

• Albert Breer (SI) Monday Afternoon QB: Washington’s organizational failures, Benjamin Watson’s release: More NFL news.
• Will Brinson (CBS Sports) Sorting the Sunday Pile, Week 5: Cowboys questions, Jon Gruden’s revenge, fading Falcons.
• Robert Mays (The Ringer) The Starting 11: How real is the Christian McCaffrey MVP buzz? Colts showed an impressive blueprint in their win over the Chiefs; More. /That’s the Patriots’ blueprint, bub.
• Gregg Rosenthal (NFL.com) The Debrief: Jay Gruden firing aftermath, plus top NFL trade candidates.
• Omnisport (Yahoo! Sports) NFL Monday lateral: Five Week 5 storylines to watch in Week 6: Officiating seems more inconsistent than ever.
• Pat Yasinskas (TouchdownWire) 10 things we learned from Sunday of Week 5 of the NFL season.
• Josh Alper (ProFootballTalk) Report: “Real chance” Evan Engram sits out Thursday night.
• Josh Alper (ProFootballTalk) Bill Belichick on Saquon Barkley: We haven’t played him and hope we don’t.
• Terez Paylor (Yahoo! Sports) Best way to throw off MVP Patrick Mahomes: Beat him up, and keep him on the sideline.